Cynergin is pleased to announce that two of our major projects were nominated for the Combined Heat and Power Association’s (CHPA’s) Sustainable Development Award. Our projects at Heart of England Foundation NHS Trust in Birmingham and the Natural History Museum in London battled it out for first place and, after what must have been an intensive debate, the award was made to Heart of England NHS Trust whilst the project at the Natural History Museum was credited as a worthy runner-up on this occasion.

The accolade recognises the combined heat and power (CHP) scheme that has had the greatest impact in meeting the sustainable development goals of a commercial or public sector organisation.

UK-based ENER-G designed, manufactured, installed and now operates a state-of-the-art ‘trigeneration’ CHP system at Birmingham Heartlands. The scheme provides the Trust with cost savings of over £650,000 per year and reduces annual CO2 emissions by 42 per cent.

The £5.1 million programme, financed by ENER-G, was structured around a 15-year public/private partnership contract and included a £403,000 grant from the Carbon Trust under the government’s Community Energy Programme. It provides the Trust with a guaranteed level of performance and savings over the contract lifetime and the partnership is now planning a similar installation at another hospital site. Cynergin played a leading role in the development and structure of the technical solution and financial and commercial framework of the contract.

Lord Whitty, president of the CHPA, and Tom Bainbridge of sponsor Nabarro, presented the award to ENER-G’s Chris Hayton and Bob Anderson, facilities manager for the Trust at the CHPA’s annual dinner at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London last month.

Graham Meeks, director of the CHPA, commented: “This is a great achievement by Birmingham Heartlands Hospital and ENER-G. This scheme is an excellent demonstration to the wider NHS to encourage other CHP installations.”

Bob Anderson said: “Receiving this award is a hugely fulfilling accomplishment and the culmination of a long-term and highly productive partnership between the Trust and ENER-G. The strength of this relationship was underlined when the Trust awarded ENER-G a contract to replicate this successful CHP application at its Solihull Hospital site where an 800 kW tri-generation scheme will achieve further carbon and cost savings.”

Chris Hayton added: “Figures suggest the NHS, as Europe’s biggest employer, contributes approximately 3% of England’s total carbon dioxide emissions, so there is a powerful need to implement effective carbon abatement strategies like CHP. A political mandate has now been set through proposals for a new Carbon Reduction Strategy that commits the service as a whole to reducing emissions by 60% by 2050. The potential for CHP use in the NHS is huge.”

At the heart of the Birmingham Heartlands tri-generation scheme is a new, aesthetically designed Energy Centre located near the hospital’s landmark main entrance. The new Energy Centre replaced ageing coal-fired boilers. Work undertaken by ENER-G involved switching fuel from coal to natural gas, including a new gas main; replacing heating mains and upgrading numerous plant rooms. A 1164kWe CHP unit and 300 kW absorption chillers were installed. The system creates electricity, steam or hot water for the winter heating and chilled water for use in the air conditioning systems during the warmer summer months. Improving the chilled water systems has allowed cool air to reach parts of the hospital that were not previously serviced, increasing comfort for patients as well as hospital staff.

Nick Ray, Director of Cynergin, stated that “We are delighted that both projects were nominated and pleased to see that the project at Heart of England NHS Trust was selected on this occasion. The project is meeting and exceeding expectations and the Trust has also agreed a separate additional contract with EnerG for a similar project at the neighbouring hospital in Solihull.